


Kiss it better

by Gandalfgirl579



Category: Nikolai Series - Leigh Bardugo, The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Angst, F/M, Romance, Tragic Romance, zoyalai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28981401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gandalfgirl579/pseuds/Gandalfgirl579
Summary: Softly, barely audible over the roll of the carriage wheels, Nikolai asks, "Where do you hurt, Zoya?"A bit of zoyalai angst for the Weekly Grisha Prompts event on Tumblr!
Relationships: Nikolai Lantsov/Zoya Nazyalensky
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29
Collections: Week #1: 10... 9... 8...





	Kiss it better

"I can't believe you ruined another shirt," Zoya grumbled. She and Nikolai presently sat in the royal carriage, her sewing by lamplight, him shirtless and watching with rapt attention.

He didn't seem to feel any guilt over the shirt's ruination, instead saying, "I didn't know you could sew!"

"Not all of us grew up in palaces," she said, not bothering to look up from the bloodied fabric in her hands. "Some of us had to mend our own clothes."

"Still," Nikolai said, "it's such a ladylike thing."

Zoya shot him a look that could cut glass for that, and said, "It wasn't a hobby. It was a necessity."

Leaning forward so he could watch easier, Nikolai rested his elbows on his spread knees. "Is it hard?" he asked.

Sparing him just the quickest of glances, Zoya said, "It's more time-consuming than difficult." Even as she said it, the carriage jostled, and she jabbed her finger with the needle, hissing and popping it into her mouth, a remnant gesture from her childhood.

"Are you all right?" Nikolai asked, stupidly. 

"It's just a pinprick," she said around her finger.

Nikolai looked more amused than he had any right to, and he took careful hold of her wrist to examine her finger. Then, very gently, he pressed his lips to it.

Zoya fought back a shiver, the shirt and thread and needle all forgotten in her lap.

"They say," Nikolai said, as if passing on some immense pieces of generations-old wisdom, "I hear a kiss can make any injury feel better."

She hummed, but said nothing else, taking up the needle again.

Softly, barely audible over the roll of the carriage wheels, Nikolai asked, "Where do you hurt, Zoya?"

Zoya scoffed. As if he didn't already know. "My heart," she said. In less than a month, Nikolai was to be married. He would be Ehri's. Not that he had ever been hers, but she had hoped. She had hoped beyond hope, and now she was going to lose him. She glanced up, catching his eyes with hers, surprised to find a pain there that mirrored her own. "You can't kiss that better, can you?"

**Author's Note:**

> As always, I must mention that I go by [Zoya-inthesnow](http://zoya-inthesnow.tumblr.com/) over on Tumblr, and I'm totally open to taking questions and comments and requests and prompts there! :) Hit me up!


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